Digital Surface Representation and the Constructability of Gehry’s Architecture

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PhD Thesis MIT, Cambridge, MA

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This thesis presents work in the development of computational descriptions of Gehry’s architectural forms. In Gehry’s process for realizing buildings, computation serves as an intermediary agent for the integration of design intent with the geometric logics of fabrication and construction. This agenda for digital representation of both formal and operational intentions, in the context of an ongoing exploration of challenging geometries, has provided new roles for computation in architectural practice. The work described in this thesis focuses on the digital representation of surface geometry and its capacity for describing the constructibility of building enclosure systems. A particular class of paper surface forms – curved surfaces with minimal in plane deformation of the surface material – provide the specific object of inquiry for exploring the relationships between form, geometry and constructibility. An analysis and framework for the description of Gehry’s geometry is developed through existing theory of differential geometry and topology. Geometric rules of constructibility associated with several enclosure system strategies are presented in this framework. With this theoretical framework in place, the discussion turns to efforts to develop generative strategies for the rationalization of surface forms into constructible configurations.